Knitting

FO Friday 01/18/13

January 18, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON AND OFF THE NEEDLES

This week’s FO Friday is Meg White’s Cabled Hat, a free Ravelry pattern. Turned out right nice as a friend of mine would say.

A quick knit, with just enough fiddliness to keep me interested. I think the yarn is some I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while back, I Love This Yarn 100% wool. Due to our (Mr. Iknead’s and mine) new austerity plan, I’m working toward losing at least a little of my yarn snobbiness. I’m trying as hard as I can to bring Mr. Iknead, a very thrifty (read tightwad) guy over to the dark side, knitting him a pair of soft, warm, merino socks, I think it might be working. The upshot of this plan is that in order for me to be able to stay home, baking and knitting, I have to scale back on some things, like high end sock yarn. Ouch.

I’m still working on the Phloem socks using a happy discovery of two hanks of beautiful Shibui Sock that I found during a stash dive. Hopefully by the next FO Friday, I’ll have them ready to wear. I loves me some Shibui!

BY THE BOOK

Another ~~casualty~~ opportunity to cut back is with my book and audiobook habit. I downgraded my Audible membership and have been using our local library instead. I love the downloadables, both e-books and audios and I’m nearly always at the ten book limit at any given time. One I’m listening to now is Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psy.chiatrist, by Paul R. Linde. Fascinating.

IN THE OVEN

Have butter and eggs sitting out, getting ready to make Sour Cream Pound Cake, a recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, a wedding gift 33 years ago. It’s been well used and well loved, judging from the stains and sticky stuff between the pages and is the first cookbook I grab when thinking about what to have for supper or what to bake when my sweet tooth kicks in. A classic and a favorite.

Check out Tami Amis blog for more FO Friday goodness.

Simplicity is the key to brilliance. Bruce Lee

Knitting

If I Were a Size Six Knitting Needle/WIP Wednesday 01/09/13

January 9, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

where would I be? I’ve been asking myself this question over and over since this time yesterday. I started a new project day before yesterday that called for four different needle sizes; for the first time ever I think, I actually had the needles I needed, sizes 8, 7, 6, and 5. All hunky dory, right? Yeah, right up until the time I dropped the whole handful and one of the size 6 needles apparently was sucked into a black hole. I’ve looked everywhere I could think of and even some places that I knew absolutely that it couldn’t possibly be, stripped the sheets off the bed, rolled up a rug, moved furniture and it still hasn’t shown itself. I went to the Yarn Mart and just bought another set, knowing that in Bethworld, as soon as something is replaced, the original reappears in the most obvious place possible. Hasn’t happened yet but it will, it will.

ON THE NEEDLES

I’ve a couple of things in progress, small, quick gratification projects for this week’s WIP Wednesday, first up is the Sideways Grande Hat from Boutique Knits, knitted flat and then seamed.

A free Ravelry pattern, Meg White’s Cabled Hat, to match the cabled scarf I finished last week is the other.

A posting for FO Friday this week doesn’t seem too far fetched, but you never know. I learned a long time ago not to count my chickens before they hatch and never, ever turn your back on a nearly finished project. It has the ability to unknit and then lose itself in the stash pile, making you doubt your sanity because you know, positively know that you laid it down RIGHT HERE and now it’s missing in action. I’m just sayin’….

AROUND MY HOUSE

Yay! We have electricians today and they say they’ll be finished early this afternoon. I got a preview of the undercabinet lighting and it is beyond awesome! Here’s a peek –

I feel a heavy baking episode coming on – especially since I cleaned the oven yesterday and the bottom is a clean slate, ready, willing and able to take another pie bubble-over or cake batter mishap. What did we do before self cleaning ovens? Did our ovens get smaller and smaller due to the build up of crud on the bottom and the fact that cleaning involved protective clothing and dangerous chemicals? I know mine without a doubt would have. Gotta love progress.

Check out Tami Amis for more WIP Wednesday project love.

To be positive is to be mistaken at the top of one’s voice. Ambrose Bierce

Knitting

FO Friday 01/04/13

January 4, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

Yay!! Catnip Socks completed and ready for this week’s FO Friday. Here they are:

Sorry about the less than wonderful photo – it’s just too cold to stand outside in my pjs to get a good picture in natural light. I know that that’s probably WTMI, with my pajamas and all, but rest assured, we DO have a privacy fence so the neighbors are safe. This particular sock stands a good chance of becoming my go-to pattern for socks. Yeah, I like it that much.

ON THE NEEDLES

Still working on this cabled scarf. The patterns calls for it to be nine feet long, I currently am about 70 inches and thinking seriously about finishing it a little shorter than the pattern says. I mean, I’m 5’2″ and nine feet of scarf is a LOT of scarf, kind of overwhelming, I think. What’s your opinion?

BY THE BOOK

I’m still working my way through Robert Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra, nearly finished, though. The imperial family has just been moved to Siberia after the revolution. The second is one I’m really excited about, The Journal of Best Practices written by David Finch, a man diagnosed at age 30 with Asperger syndrome and how he and his family cope with this diagnosis. Funny and at times poignant and a little sad. I’m really, really enjoying this book.

FUN WITH ELECTRICIANS

Like I posted earlier this week, we had a couple of electricians in to do some updating and replacing in our house. I was so excited about the new undercabinet lights they were installing. Well, when they got ready to do the installing, they were the wrong size, the lights, not the electricians, so they were a no go yesterday. They did get a lot done, new lights, new ceiling fans, adding outlets etc., but I was pumped about my lights. Crap. This is a lesson in patience with delayed gratification, two things that I don’t have much of.

For lots more FO Friday projects, skip on over to Tami Amis’ blog and enjoy.

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis. Margaret Bonnano

Knitting

Bright, Shiny and New

January 2, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

SOMETHING REALLY NEAT

Babymama and Babydaddy got me the coolest thing for Christmas, it’s called Q&A A Day, a five year journal that asks a single, simple (or not so simple once it’s thought about) question a day. Each day a new question with room for five years of answers. For example: the January 1 question is “What is your mission?”. I’m looking forward to answering each question as it comes and reading the previous year’s answers.

ON THE NEEDLES

For this week’s WIP, the Catnip socks are still up. I’m turning the heel on the second sock and have high hopes for FO Friday this week. Here’s my progress:

ON THE STOVE

I tried a new recipe this evening, thanks to Pinterest and the blog, the-girl-who-ate-everything.com and it was an out of the ballpark hit, both with me and Mr. Iknead. Here’s the pic from the original blog:

White Chicken Chili

So good on a cold, damp day!

IN THE OVEN

The last piece of holiday pie (blackberry) is finally gone, thanks to Mr. Iknead. Now I’m casting around for something to bake, maybe a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Baked Raised Doughnuts. It won’t happen tomorrow I’m pretty certain, we’re having some electrical work done on our house so I’m pretty sure we’ll have no electricity most of the day, but the next day for sure. Off the oven subject but I’m especially excited about the LED undercabinet lighting we’re having installed. No more dark corners or eyestrain trying to read in the dark. Exciting, right??

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith

Knitting

FO Friday 12/14/12

December 14, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF/ON THE NEEDLES

Mr. Iknead’s Simple Skype socks are finished and he loves them! I decided after finishing the first one cuff down that I would do the second toe up, which is how I usually knit socks. Like the toe up sock construction better, confirming once and for all that pretty much any sock can be done toe up, I usually just read the pattern from bottom to top instead of the regular way and use the Fleegle heel. You can see the difference in the picture, the one on the left is toe up.

IN/OUT OF THE OVEN

Another type of FO – I baked seven loaves of pumpkin bread yesterday and once again, my new KA mixer rocks! I doubled the recipe, bringing the total flour tally to seven cups, total sugar to six cups, with four cups of pumpkin and eight eggs. KA performed like a champ. I once tried to double the recipe in my old KA, a totally dumb idea, since I’m still scraping pumpkin off my kitchen ceiling. : p

These are earmarked for friends, I hope to get them delivered today. Must make list so I don’t miss anyone.

THE GRANDS

Here is the most recent pic of Babydiva and her mommy. How beautiful are these two??

Check out Tami Ami’s for more awesome FOs.

Joy shared is twice the joy. Sorrow shared is half the sorrow. Swedish proverb

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 12/12/12

December 12, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

A couple of WIPs this week, Mr. Iknead’s Simple Skype Socks and a pretty cabled scarf that I started on a whim, both coming along nicely. The second sock has great potential to be a FO Friday project, only lacking the leg and the top cuff. Hope I haven’t jinxed it.

Simple Skype Socks

Cabled Scarf

IN THE OVEN

Today is my mother’s birthday, I’m in the process of making a lemon pound cake to take up to the nursing home for her to share. I’ll post a pic when it’s finished and ready to go. Happy birthday Mom, I love you!

For more WIP happiness, check out Tami Amis blog. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.

Knitting

FO Friday 12/7/12

December 7, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

Adamas shawl, as modeled by Babymama aka Katie

Babymama was such a good sport, standing in the rain and chilly temp to model for me. Is she a great DIL or what? BTW, This is a Knitty pattern. Love Knitty, my go to when I need inspiration.

THE GRANDS

Bigmommy called last evening to give us a heads up that the Papoose is going to be in the church’s Christmas Pageant on December 19. No surprise, she’s going to be an angel. Can’t wait to see her with her wings. All this with proper documentation (read pictures and videos ad nauseam to anyone but family), of course. NOTE: Wiki defines ad nauseam as “A Latin term for something that has continued to the point of nausea”.

IN THE OVEN

Today’s the day that I get serious about Christmas baking. It’s been a tradition for years that I start my holiday baking with pumpkin bread with cream cheese spread for friends, with the recipient list growing longer and longer. I think I ended up baking about 30 loaves last year. It goes without saying that that’s a LOT of pumpkin and pecans/walnuts. Lucky for me, I have a hook up for pecans for about half of what they go for in the grocery store, shelled and ready to use. If you haven’t bought pecans recently, they cost about $8.00 a pound in the store. I scored ten pounds for $38.00 and can’t help gloating a little. Pecan pie, anyone?

For more FO Friday offerings, check out Tami Ami’s blog, it’s loaded with FO goodness.

At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year. Thomas Tusser

Knitting

The hurrier I go

November 2, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

BACK IN THE DARK AGES

When I was a kid, an aunt that I was close to and visited often had a little sign in her kitchen that read, “The Hurrier I Go, The Behinder I Get”. It always made me giggle because I thought it was so silly. How can you get more behind when you hurry? Now, though, since I’m living proof that you can, in fact, get further behind when in a hurry, it’s perfectly logical and I try to remember its corrollary (I think that’s what it’s called), “Slow Down, It’ll Happen”. All this is leading up to is the confession that I didn’t get anything that was on my list done, but, I got to feed Babydiva her noon bottle (getting lots of kisses at the same time), spent time with my sweet DIL who graciously modeled Pretty Maids for me to photograph and fixed a mistake on my just started Adamas shawl, getting it back on track and ready to work on again. A good day all around.

Pretty Maids Shawl

THE GRANDS

Babydiva supervised the photo shoot –

She says, “That’s a wrap!”

Check out Tami Ami’s blog for more FO Friday goodies.

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish. Michelangelo

Knitting

ACK!!!

September 19, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

NEED SPRAY AND WASH STAT!

Somehow this morning my skirt (which happens to be my current favorite) got hung up in one of the wheels on my chair. I had to just yank it out, but fortunately, it didn’t rip. What did happen is that it has grease or something on it. Pray that it will come out with a little elbow grease and stain remover this evening as soon as I get home. Arghhhhhhh!

BY THE BOOK

I finally finished my treadmill book, The Last Romanov, yesterday. Enjoyed it for what it was – fiction not even trying to pass for nonfiction. Now I’m shopping for another treadmill book, maybe Nicholas and Alexandra, in keeping with my current Russia/Romanov obsession. I read this a long, long time ago, when books were always made of paper and if not bought, were checked out of the library, with a signature and stamped date so you’d know when it return it. The olden days I suppose. Nicholas and Alexandra it is.

ON THE NEEDLES (STILL)

The Dropsy scarf has undergone a few changes, I added a few more stitches to widen it and am much happier with the way it looks. I took this pic this a.m. in natural light and the color is much truer than last weeks photo.

THE GRANDS

Still on babywatch at the Papoose’s house. Unless Bigmama goes into labor before hand, this time next Wednesday, we should have a brand new grand to show off. Bigmama’s WIP will become a FO! (sorry, a little knitting humor there).

Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. Herman Hesse

Knitting

FO Friday 08/31/12

August 31, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

They’re done, finally! The Crazy Monkeys are hot off the needles and here they are:

On to the next!

Nobody’s sweetheart is ugly. Dutch proverb

Knitting

Do Over

June 26, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHAT??

You mean to tell me that my blog pictures aren’t there? Why can I see them when I post but they’re not there for anyone else. A little slow on the uptake lately, me, especially when I have Flickr on my phone and it’s a million times easier to post from there. My kids are always saying I’m always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to technology; give me a break, when I learned to type (back in the Dark Ages, 1974 or thereabouts), electric typewriters were on the cutting edge.

Before and after pics of the French Market Bag

Before Felting

After Felting

I hope these show! It took about five trips through the washing machine before I was satisfied with the felting. This was my first felting project and I was surprised at how much it shrank. I think I might try a big bowl next.

BY THE BOOK

At the moment, I’m still listening to Part 5 of Stephen King‘s Dark Tower series, Wolves of the Calla. I’m nearly finished and have a new book waiting in the wings, A Time to Love, by Barbara Cameron. I think it’s part one of a series, Quilts of Lancaster County. I should probably mention that this was a Free Friday Nook Book from Barnes and Noble. Every Friday they offer a different free Nook Book and it has been a great way for me to break out of the “reading rut” I find myself in sometimes.

ON THE STOVE

Thanks to a friend at work, Mr. Iknead and I have enough fresh okra and tomatoes for at least a week. I think I’m going to freeze the okra and do salsa with the tomatos. Hurry up work week so I can get started! Thanks C., Mr. Iknead and I appreciate you and your garden.

The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds. Jawaharlal Nehru

Knitting

Sunday night

June 24, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHAT I DID

Ending up the weekend and this feels like the first time I’ve had more than a couple of minutes to put my thoughts in order. I did some baking – made Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread yesterday and Chicken and Rice Casserole today. Oh, and I went to the grocery store. And knitted on Wingspan. Besides that, I don’t have a clue where the time went.

ON THE NEEDLES

Wingspan is coming along nicely. But, I keep reminding myself, while I’m getting a lot done on it, three (minimum) projects are languishing on the back burner and I seemingly have a low guilt threshold because I feel guilty when I see them and then once again pass them up.

Yay, pictures of the French Market Bag, before and after: